Thursday, December 29, 2016

General Information About Plastic Injection Molding

By Dennis Foster


Manufacturing industry is among the leading industry in the state. Plastic injection molding usually is among the manufacturing procedures which deal with the fabrication of plastic parts. A broad range of products is manufactured through this process. The products vary greatly in size, complexity as well as application.

The process requires the application of an injection molding machine, a mold, and raw material. During the process, the plastic is melted in the machine and the injected into the mold. It is then allowed to cool and hence solidifies into the final product.

The process has four steps the first one being compaction. Here, the two halves of these molds are clamped together in the clamping unit. Clamping takes place before injection, and it ensures that the halves of the mold are securely closed. During the clamping process, the two parts produce a force which is sufficient to keep it shut for the whole process.

After clamping the material are injected into these molds. The materials entering the molds are usually in a molten state. To begin this stage, the raw materials which are in the form of pellets are fed into the machine. Heat and pressure are applied to them making them melt. The molten material is the injected into the molds. Pressure is created that packs and holds these materials into position. The amount of material injected into it is known as the shot. The taken while injecting the materials can be estimated from shot volume, injection pressure, and injection power.

Following injections is cooling of molten plastic. Cooling begins immediately the materials come into contact with the interior wall of this mold. The reason for this process is to allow for solidification of molten material into the desired shape and size. During cooling, shrinkage of the part is likely to take place. For this reason, it is necessary to properly pack the materials during the injection stage. This reduces the rate of shrinkage. It can now remain open until the desired cooling is obtained.

Lastly, is the ejection stage. After cooling, the cooled part is removed through the ejection system. This system is attached to the rear half of this mold. Force is applied to eject the part since while cooling; the part may shrink thereby adhering to it. To facilitate the ejection process, a mold release agent is sprayed onto the surface of mold cavity before the injection of this material.

This process is used to produce thin walled plastic parts for different applications. One of the common is plastic housing which is a thin walled enclosure. The housings are used in several products such as power tools, household appliances, automotive dashboards and consumer electronics.

One of the benefits of this process is that it is accurate. It is a precise method which can be used to fabricate any type of part. There are some design restrictions. However, the molds made allow the finished part to be very precise thus very accurate which is made possible by the skillfulness of the designers.




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